S9 is the top model

Also, the connection with SA seems more stable. Previously on SSU I would frequently lose connection and had to juggle through disabling bluetooth, restarting the phone, force closing the app and so on.

JorgeFD

I’m waiting for Suunto to let me buy a personalized S9! please please please

thank you @Dimitrios-Kanellopoulos for all your support. Waiting for this big update!

Luís Pinto

Fair review from dcrainmaker: https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2018/07/suunto-9-multisport-gps-in-depth-review.html

I was worried about Sports Tracker and Movescount. And the lack of human ressources to accomplish so many demands.

Marius Jacobsen Eggerud

@luís-pinto Yes, I think he has pointed out what “we” are concerned about.

Luís Pinto

@Marius-Jacobsen-Eggerud In regards to Movescount i stayed with sensation that plan is to discontinue and transfer features to ST. Is a error. ST is a alien world. Not Suunto.

“At present, Sports Tracker basically feels like a rehashed version of RunKeeper from half a decade ago. It lacks most of the sport-focused analytics found in Movescount. The good news here is that you can continue using Movescount, but the bad news is that most of the newer features you might want around 24×7 tracking (i.e. steps and sleep) aren’t in Movescount, or aren’t as detailed there.”

“Suunto says over time features will get ported over from Movescount to Sports Tracker, but I suspect we’re realistically talking 12-18 months or so here. After all, I’ve been watching this transition since last December, and I wouldn’t exactly call the progress lightning fast.”

Other thing is when dc says “Suunto’s in a tough spot in terms of competition these days, and they admit it themselves. When I met with them they were clear that they’re no longer trying to compete on feature counts with Garmin. It’s simply not going to win there, Suunto just doesn’t have the resources (namely, developers) to do so. Instead, Suunto is aiming to compete on making a device they believe is more durable and attuned to what endurance athletes want: Better battery life, better GPS and altimeter tracks, and solid reliability”, dcrainmaker.

This time it seemed to me that the DC was well to praise what is right and point the finger at what is wrong.

In fact i was told before. Suunto is being directed for a market niche.
Suunto don’t have to become a Garmin. They do things at other approach. But some things they have to bring. More 6/9 months to bring elementar things people will become less receptive to brand. Not even person is a endurance athlete.

Marius Jacobsen Eggerud

@luís-pinto Agree, if they want to be directed to a market niche, I think it will be hard to make money to survive. Like it or not, but most users want features and if Suunto don`t want or cannot compete in this area they, at least, need to make sure that what they do they do better than their competitors.

Luís Pinto

@Marius-Jacobsen-Eggerud Yes, i think the same as you. Good point. As i see it:

is excelent to have a S9 and ultra for endurance athletes (probably present features are enough, robust material, gps accuracy, battery, several sports, good reading menus, true values);
For fitness they have S3 ( i don’t know if they have a good market reception). It’s a very difficult segment. There are many brands with good skills and prices;
The problem is on middle range… Suunto have good watches like Trainer, Baro and WR, but heavy). At first view these models should be directed for average athletic person. And here are the problem with lack of features (structured intervals, Vo2 in watch, predicted race times, apps missing, widgets, full support for Stryd…).
There is a way to Suunto overcome this question. Bring apps for people making and use. Taking advantage of what they did in the past and what Garmin has with Connect IQ.

In middle range is where you get money to survive as company. And to add more things.

Dimitrios Kanellopoulos

I would agree with most things here but let me tranfer some other peoples opinions from Run4IQ as they are also valuable and debatable.
Post Link 1
Post link 2

Seems like DCRainmaker is more concerned with pointless bells and whistles features these days (ie Payments, Bluetooth mp3, inaccurate vo2 estimates, race predictors, and other bells/whistles beyond the core functionality of the watch).

Maybe it’s just me, but I really could care less about those features. I am more concerned about the watch’s durability, battery life, and GPS/altitude accuracy.

I thought it was a fair review. Having F5x, F5, F5s, SSU and S9 as toys to play with I pretty much agree with all he says. I absolutely prefer the S9, but the others are fine watches and if you like bells and whistles then Garmin win. I’ve lost interest in the extras, so for me the S9 wins. I really couldn’t be bothered to argue with someone who thinks otherwise though - it’s their money, they can buy what they want!

@Dimitrios-Kanellopoulos of course there will be opinions for and against bell and whistles.
The real million dollar question is whether the general target group cares for these features strongly enough to influence their buying decision.
I would guess that suunto thinks otherwise.
I personally feel feature anxiety from all the metrics in a garmin watch. But maybe the general population thinks otherwise.

In any case, we cannot influence suunto,s decision directly. We vote with our wallets

Brad_Olwin

@Dimitrios-Kanellopoulos I agree with what folks are saying here. For those that do long days hiking or running S9 is “the” watch. I did a 100km race in Colorado this weekend and saw 3 S9 watches besides mine. In the Endurance crowd everyone is talking about the S9 and many Garmin users say they are seriously considering switching. The fenix 5x+ will not last the 35h stated, that requires severely limiting sensors and readout. Most of my friends with the 5x get about 15h, the 5x+ will likely have a modest increase in battery life but not 32h. DCRainmaker made a big point about this in his review.

Suunto has an excellent fitness watch and now the premier Endurance watch. They really only need 1 more in the middle and Suunto could simply focus on being the best with those 3.

Accompanying that, Suunto needs to have the best mobile and web platforms for the watches! Garmin Connect IMHO is horrible but the mobile app is pretty good. The progress on moving to SportsTracker needs to be significantly sped up and AmerSports should provide the resources necessary to get this done. First get all of the Spartan hardware on the new platform and ALL features enabled. Then if necessary worry about past models.
Suunto does not need to have the analysis available in Movescount, they could partner with TrainingPeaks and allow/promote export to other analysis sites as well. This would save development costs. For example, I would rather plan my workouts in TrainingPeaks and transfer to the watch or Suunto app. However, the mobile app should be the best out there, permitting route addition, syncing and watch customization completely offline, with synchronization once a connection is available. The app is well on its way but moving too slowly.

Just my thoughts on this.

Dimitrios Kanellopoulos

@Brad_Olwin I agree with you and also with what people say here.

Regarding the Web-Apps etc its quite crucial to hit this. I think thats why we are here.

SlaSh

@Brad_Olwin I disagree that suunto is having the best fitness watch, how fitness watch can be introduced without history of the fitness, like weight, hr and etc… It is half baked watch and long way till the best

Dimitrios Kanellopoulos

@SlaSh you need history for what exactly?

Eg to know the weight 2 years ago?

Or the hr 2 years ago?

Its a fair point you have there. But just trying to put it in action. Because I thought fitness is around the current state. Or a question , such as how fit are you… I mean its how fit are you now no?

I agree with you @SlaSh , it might not be the best fitness watch due to history.

SlaSh

@Dimitrios-Kanellopoulos yes weight history for last year if possible and please include 24/7/365 hr, thanks fitness is all about to get in shape or stay in shape. You elite runners never understand So for example I track my HR for visceral reasons, especially resting HR

Dimitrios Kanellopoulos

@SlaSh clear!/

Brad_Olwin

@SlaSh said in S9 is the top model:

@Brad_Olwin I disagree that suunto is having the best fitness watch, how fitness watch can be introduced without history of the fitness, like weight, hr and etc… It is half baked watch and long way till the best

Ahh, I did not say best for a reason, you understood me as I said excellent, clearly not best…I agree with your points! For those that start a fitness routine they often want to lose weight or improve on a measure. For example VO2 max. For this people want history and I think history is a good thing. Needs to happen. The adaptive training is s feature that makes the watch excellent among others.
I did say premiere Endurance for the S9 and would stand by that meaning the best.

Armin S.

@Brad_Olwin said in S9 is the top model:

@SlaSh said in S9 is the top model:
…
For those that start a fitness routine they often want to lose weight or improve on a measure. For example VO2 max. For this people want history and I think history is a good thing. Needs to happen. The adaptive training is s feature that makes the watch excellent among others.
…

Yes! I think, for the S3F as a fitness watch, history of weight is a must. For the S9 for power athletes certainly not necessarily.

Luís Pinto

@Armin-S In disagreement. Even chinese watches have that. Most of brands have it. For Suunto integrate V02max in Spartan and S9 series is not need to buy algorithm from Firstbeat like they did for S3F. Is a known formula, simple as:

VO2max=15*(HRmax/HRrest)

If they don’t want to put this, no problem. Give us apps builder and we make a .json app for watch.

Luís Pinto

New software for Suunto 9 today, v 2.1.64

any news on the changelog?
Someone posted new firmware for S3f.
So is it a bugfix release?